The total number to have fled the country has now reached 4,013,000 people after yet more left their homes as a result of fresh fighting and Turkey updated its statistics, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said.

The group raised issues including the presence of foreign troops in Afghanistan, prisoner release, and removal of Taliban members from UN sanction lists during its first official peace talks with the Kabul government.

The cabinet drafted a new terrorism law on Sunday that said reporters who published casualty figures and other information that differs from that released by the state could be imprisoned for at least two years.